The UGRA faced criticism in the Wednesday hearings at the Texas capitol.
AUSTIN, Texas — The Upper Guadalupe River Authority (UGLA), which runs on property taxes in Kerr County, has six river gauges on the Guadalupe River.
Only July 4th, that river was hit with sudden and devastating flooding that claimed the lives of at least 108 people in Kerr County.
On Wednesday, state lawmakers on the Disaster Preparedness & Flooding select committee questioned river authority General Manager Tara Bushnoe on why the entity didn’t move forward with a project that would have added more river gauges in commonly flooded areas. The Texas Tribune reported the system would have included detection systems at 10 low-water crossings in Kerr County that transmits information to local agencies.
The UGLA had saved a reserve fund of $3.4 million. They could have used that money to put in additional river gauges. Instead, the dollars went to reducing their tax rate, according to the Houston Chronicle.
Texas Sen. Paul Bettencourt said he believes the system would have made a difference.
“The technology that you were asking for a million-dollar grant on seemed to be perfectly suited for what happened on July the Fourth,” Bettencourt said. “These were 10 low-water crossings areas with gauges, with warnings for people not to proceed. It seemed to be an automatic system that would report into a general system.”
He followed up by asking Bushnoe: “I have to ask, why did you drop it?”
Bushnoe responded by saying that “the 5% grant was the approach that our board was going to take…and so we were also going to take our funds, along with grant funds from the state, and then approach our other partners to contribute in kind.”
In summary, the UGRA wanted other community partners – namely Kerr County and the City of Kerrville – to help pay for it even thought they could afford it. Texas Rep. Drew Darby pointed out the UGRA had the resources to put in the new system without any help from grants or loans.
“You had the money, but not the will,” Darby said.
“I find it disturbing,” State Sen. Charles Schwertner said. “Y’all have authority on the Upper Guadalupe River but you chose not to put in recommended upgrades to your security system.”
“You were trying to be fiscally conservative. You were trying to apply the money that you had matched with the grant portion,” added State Sen. Adam Hinojosa. “We can all Monday morning-quarterback it and say what was the right decision at the time. Clearly, had that been done, it could have saved more lives, but nobody knew that at the time.”
Bettencourt is working on a bill that would create a warning system with sirens, which the state would pay for, but it has not been filed yet. KENS 5 will continue to keep an eye on that legislation.